Cam Talbot Is Still Thinking Playoffs And We Love Him For It

The very first quote is one that smacks you right in the craw on a sleepy Tuesday morning during the second week off of Oilers hockey we have had in three weeks.

“We’re going to make the playoffs.”

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

That is some bold talk coming from a guy who has a .901 SV%, well off his career .918 SV%, not to mention the fact that at 5v5 he is a far more respectable .916 (CURSE YOU PENALTY KILL). And Gord darn it we love him for it. Anyone who is a citizen of the Nation can remember the deflated attitudes and quotes coming from the Oilers locker room and management during the DOD. It sounds to me like one of the team’s leaders is fixing to go on a run this year.

Is it possible? Sportsclubstats.com has the Oilers at 0.4% playoff chances for the year. The Oilers now sit on pace for a 79 point season; way down in the bottom of the league from the 104 points they had last year. They sit ten points behind Colorado, eleven back of the suddenly sliding Flames, and giving up a game in hand to the Avs. There is also four and five teams between them and the playoffs that they will have to leapfrog.

All that being said, sure, fans of other teams are going to poke fun at it:

If you ask me, having a goalie who is capable of far more, convinced that the Oilers can be better… I am locked in for the final 33 games of this season and hope will never die that we will all be in Rogers Place (and on the streets partying afterwards) come playoff time this spring.

What say you, Nation?

January Alzheimer’s Awareness Month, and we’re starting conversations to help people see dementia differently.

We’ve spoken to people living with dementia from across the country who’ve shared openly about their challenges and triumphs.

Like Mary Beth, who was diagnosed when she was 45 and became a fierce advocate for the rights of people with dementia. There’s also Mario, who got his diagnosis a year after he retired and, while it changed what he expected of his future, he has embraced it anyway, volunteering in his community, and taking up photography to express himself creatively. And then there’s Naomi, whose mum was diagnosed at 54, and who is a dedicated daughter, caregiver, and advocate for change in the way dementia is viewed in Canada. You can read about each of their journeys via the web-link below.

It’s always ONE guy with you. This years it’s Talbot. Have you checked the stats? His 5v5 save % is good. THE PENALTY KILL AND PP SUCK !!!! This is a TEAM game. Someday you’ll realize it (not holding my breath). I have never seen you post anything positive here. You’re an idiot, Go buck a fuffalo already.

Explain one thing to me then. The media (play by play and their sidekicks) all say the goaltender is the biggest part of any PK! So going by that, Talbot (this year) has SUCKED! Like it or not and I’m a Talbot fan but those are the facts.

Why do we want the oilers to make the playoffs? Where special teams is most important, and Refs ALrEADY have it out for us… do you think this oilers team would last? THeY WILL GET SWEEPED with a pk like that.

I am surprised that any Oilers fans would say anything negative about Talbot’s comments. Will they make the playoffs? Unless a miracle happens, most likely not but as a fan, I sure as hell don’t want my team mailing in the season. I want them to be playing hard right to the end. If you can’t make the playoffs at least work to get your game figured out. Try to salvage something so hopefully you as a team can figure out who needs to stay, who needs to go and hopefully carry some good into next season so maybe you can hit the ground running. So if holding on to some faint hope that they will make the playoffs, helps them keep going, then I don’t see why any Oiler fan would have an issue with it.

I really like Talbot’s attitude but the team’s underlying issues haven’t changed. There needs to be a shake up and that probably means the coach.
The team needs a fresh breeze to fill their sails and it seems that they’ve just tuned Todd out. It’s a gamble to replace him, but something has to give somewhere – I really doubt the special teams have changed since the All Star break.

Typical response from an Oilers fan used to being negative. I am not here to defend the GM because he has definitely made mistakes but I don’t care who is on this team or if the GM “Wrecked” the team like you say. Take last years 103 pt team and have it be healthy, the Oilers aren’t making the playoffs when their starter is giving them 3.14 GA and .901% goaltending. That’s a fact. It doesn’t matter who the back up is or who’s on defense. Most teams who have legit starter, have their starter play 60+ games so 75+% of their games. You aren’t going to win if your starter plays like Talbot has. Not possible.

So while I agree that the GM and the bets he made have definitely not been good this seasons especially, even if Talbot was giving them .910 goaltending which is only mediocre starting goaltending, the Oilers would easily have 2-3 more wins, probably a few more.

What are the underlying issues with the team? I don’t know, and I have never seen anything written about it. A fresh breeze could just as easily be a change of attitude which could happen over night. One player starts it off and the next player picks it up and so on..
Where is the narritive that they have tuned out the coach coming from anyways? Players playing poorly doesn’t say that, losing doesn’t necessarily say that either. Although both could.
The only thing that is for sure this season is that the players haven’t been able to gel and raise the quality of their play at the same time.
Todd is a really good coach that we have been screaming for on OilersNation for years, why are fans so eager to dump him of at the curb at the first sign of trouble. This is exactly how teams are ruined, zero loyalty shown to staff doesn’t bode well for attracting other players/coaches. Look what happened with Florida last season. Gallant is a good coach and everyone except their terrible GM knew it. Lets not be the Panthers

Then why hasn’t this attitude change rolled into town?
The underlying issues are:
that the special teams are horrible and don’t get any better
Talbot has played poorly.
The Oilers can’t play at home worth a darn.
The team gets shutout and blown out a lot.
They can’t get up for must win games against teams like Buffalo.
The Captain is a terrific player, but not seasoned enough to take charge of a room that can’t get “up” for games.

These have been consistent problems for much of the year.

I think Todd is a good guy, but part of his job is to have his players game ready and while he isn’t to blame for everything, you can’t fire the players. Why isn’t he healthy scratching guys who are sleepwalking? Where is the tough love? Why the same old same old on the PK & PP? Where does the buck stop?

Man I get it, chia messed up a little but the players need to figure out how to play the game as well. Swapping coaches and gm’s isn’t the only way to improve the teams play. How about they look at each other and do what Vegas has done, just play hard for each other and quite feeling sorry for themselves.

While I agree with you, they just aren’t playing for each other here. I don’t know what happened to the room, but it looks like it’s going to take a bigger change to get it going. Todd knows way more about hockey and team commitment and motivation than I ever will….. but he still isn’t getting it done. Sooner or later someone will get led to the sacrificial altar, and I’m afraid it will likely be Todd.

its time get physical now , don’t be afraid to take a penalty. Play like you did in the playoffs, you just need to bring it out.. I believe it can be done with this team yet , and if not , so be it. Just gut it out every single shift or every game. Do your selves proud. Sign iggy for the rest of the year.
laugh if you want , he is a PP option that we don’t have on D.

who are you more feared of letestu or Jarome ? I’m still watching Iggy more then Mark. No offense but. Iggy has PP knowledge and where to be.

It’s not impossible, and we’re not mathematically out yet. We won, what, four of our last five? I’d like to think the team huddled after the all-star break, and had a hard talk, and this is the outcome. If they truly believe they can do it, I’m all in. They have the talent and the winning, successful season from last year. Why not? Better than moping around and feeling sorry for themselves.

Unless the penalty kill and power play does a compete 180 improvement no chance of playoffs. Right now even with average special teams it’s a long shot. Talbot has to say these things. Like he is going to say “yeah it’s over”.

This 10,000 times over. I read the articles and skip over the random twitter posts. I don’t care what the twitter posters have to say, only the writers of the articles, and the fans who post on the comments section.

Realistically speaking, the chance is mathematical only. If you assume 95 pts gets us there then we need 48 more pts in 33 games which is a 73% win rate or basically winning 3 out of 4. To date we are a 48% win rate. The top team in the league is Tampa at 72% so we have to be marginally better than the best team in the league for the rest of the season. Sorry, our ship has sailed – we were just above 50% for Dec+Jan. Season=Done.

Time to start talking about 1) the draft and 2) how we can take a team with the best player in the world in it and be competitive. Anyone out there think Chia can make that happen? I don’t. Thank god we have McJesus. Where would we be without him? Just being realistic.

You seem like a smart guy Nation Dan. I’ll ask you a couple of questions…
1- would you agree that special teams are one of the most important characteristics of a playoff team?

2- with a special team like the oilers this season.. how well do you think they would do in the playoffs?

Cam can bring out his inner Dubnyk of years past but his PK is gonna fail him. They would get sweeped in he playoffs, and that would be much better that picking a little bit higher in the draft right?…. lol Losers Nation

So a 10 game win streak gets us to 28 pts in 23 games which still leaves a 61% win which we have not done this year. It ain’t happenin’. Love it to, mathematically it can, but it ain’t happenin’. Sorry.

The real question is which Oilers team are we going to see come out of the break on Thursday?

The team we saw before Christmas that was chasing the best goaltenders in the league and consistently bringing the effort to win games?

Or the plumbers that showed up last Tuesday against Buffalo and way too many other times during the season – who put on their skates just to fart themselves around the rink and make back-up tenders look like superstars?

The maddening thing is that they have the skill to make the type of run that they need… But just can’t seem to stop those no-effort games from happening.

They don’t have the skill to make a run that is needed. They have Connor McDavid and unfortunately he can’t do it by himself. No top pairing defencemen and not a lot on the win. Teams for the most part can defend against one dominant player and that’s what we have. Need some upgrading in a few spots before becoming a consistent playoff team

Its about damn time. This is how winners talk. Your not out until your mathematically eliminated. I used to get so sick of all the losers around here saying were out of it. Thats a terrible mentality to have in sports and life.

They are unfortunately done like dinner. Stick a fork in them. Colorado went on a 10 game win streak and they aren’t even in a playoff spot after that. It is just too many points and to many teams to jump over. Vancouver is only 1 point behind them and if I asked any of you if Vancouver has a chance every one of you would say no chance in hell. Next year they will be much better coming out of the gate and not put themselves in this pile of quicksand.

I want to believe they can do it, I really do, but they have been doing this for two months. Ups and downs with too many downs.

Sure, they won 4 of the last 5. Two of those wins were against other bottom feeders, two they squeaked out in OT and the loss was blowout at home to a team that is actually worse than them this year. I remain unconvinced they can go on an epic streak and make the playoffs but I think they can at least make it respectable and hopefully bounce back in a big way next year.

Oh it’s possible. But the Oilers (IMHO) would have to win 26 out of those 33 games to even have a shot at the last wildcard. That’s 26-7. Talbot had better wake up and start playing actual NHL hockey, and not AHL hockey.

We know the problems….. PK=72.2%, PP=14.5% Talbot= .901/3.14 GA, FO%=49.1…..
I only point these out because these problem areas have been there most of the season, and not much has changed, and probably wont going into the final run.
Talbot put your money where your mouth is… you have been weak thus far.

yes you need one team in a playoff spot to go on a losing streak as well as the Oil to go on a winning streak at the same time but there are 4 other teams ahead of the oil that are going to jump all over that to get into their own playoff spot. Their chances are so slim it’s not even worth mentioning.